embracing mother-ing and all its glory – from wet diapers, spit-ups, tantrums to first smiles, hug-a-bugs and sweet cuddles

My 2 boys have G6PD deficiency, my daughter does not. What’s up with that? They say its pretty common here in the Philippines and around the world but with all our friends (not that much really), we only know of one other family who has it 1 out of 4 kids and a friend who has a relative who has it. That makes 2 out of 500 friends (based on an estimated FB count minus those that are related to each other). So I guess its not so common in ‘our’ world.

In any case, you might have stumbled upon this post because you are researching something about it – probably because your son or daughter was diagnosed with it or a cute nephew or niece. Well, factual and reasearch based information can be found in this site – it is regularly updated I assume. Yet, in lay man’s terms, I explain it as a ‘sort of allergy whereby when certain foods are ingested, there is a breakdown of red blood cells. worst case scenario is bleeding or death’. Don’t quote me on it! That is what I use to explain to EVERYONE who is not in the medical field. Its easier, concise and a lot of the truth really. And believe me, I have had to explain it 3-4 times (& still explaining) to the same persons in the span of my childrens’ lives and I get the same reaction every time… “OH MY really? OH NO…” and then they ask again another time if they have allergies and I say ‘sort of’ and then I explain again and get the same reaction. You’d think they remember because of their grave reaction but NO. Hence, the simplistic explanation.

According to the inheritance chart here, I, as the mother am partially deficient or G6PD deficient like my 2 sons. And they got it from me.

Here are some FAQs

1. What foods are not allowed? ANS: ALL Soya products, beans, blueberries, menthol, eucalyptyus and blue-colored foods. Medicines with SULFA

2. What are the symptoms of bleeding if a contraindicated food is eated? ANS: No symptoms until it is too late. Tea-colored urine is a sign of too high biliburin in the blood which is a late symptom of high ingestion of banned foods. Late because too much RBCs have been destroyed.

3. Can taking Ferrous Sulfate supplement help maintain balance of RBC even when banned foods are avoided? ANS: I have not read that it helps. But ask your doctor about it.

4. Has anyone in the Philippines died of this? ANS: I have not heard of any case. We know 2 pedias and they both have not heard of mortalities due to G6PDD

5. What do your children eat that are in the banned list of foods? ANS:

ADOBO – it has soy sauce and any food that was cooked with soy sauce.

LUMPIA – fried or fresh. it has chopped baguio beans.

6. What foods are a complete NO-NO for your kids? ANS

TAHO, SOY Milk

BLUEBERRIES or blueberry flavored drinks or cookies or muffins

Efficacent oil or menthol/eucalyptus scented air fresheners or oils or lotions

As you see, I am not really very strict. I follow the rules but bend it a little to some degree knowing that the (disease) strain here in the Philippines is not really that threatening. However, I do advice that you proceed with caution and that you try the foods out on your kids in small amounts if you really want to give them.